The ruins of a house at Annunciation and Upperline that collapsed during Monday morning’s heavy storm.

Three construction workers escaped from a home just off Wisner Park moments before it collapsed amid the high winds during Monday morning’s storms in New Orleans, they said.

A May 2014 view of the same house from Google Maps. (via google.com)

The three men were in the process of renovating the house at the corner of Annunciation and Upperline as the storm intensified and the wind picked up Monday morning, causing the structure to shake with increasing violence, said Meljen Portillo, the supervisor.

“The winds got a little too strong, so we just decided, it’s time to get out of here,” Portillo said. “We were on the way out when the house started coming down. I was carrying the tools, but I just left the tools behind, like, ‘Forget this.'”

The house collapsed right around the workers, but none of them were hurt as they escaped into the downpour, Portillo said.

“It was pouring like somebody was putting buckets of water in your hair — that’s how heavy the rain was,” Portillo said.

After the collapse, nearly the only part of the house left even partially upright was the white-framed front door. With the structure mostly lost, the renovation effort will likely become new construction, Portillo said.

The story isn’t the collapse — it’s the negligent way these contractors stripped this house. The exterior siding was completely gone, all that was left to hold up the roof was some framing and interior studs. It was so bare that a breeze could have knocked it over. They’re lucky it didn’t fall into the house next door, or on to someone. Of COURSE it collapsed. The way this house was being “renovated,” it was clear that it was going to be new construction anyway.